Agent 34 (Book 1)

32. It's not a matter of thought

Apologies for the late update. Like way late. I put up a message in Discord that goes into more detail about why I've been absent for so long. Long story short though, my classes took priority as I was struggling in one of them and needed to pass the class in order to graduate. I did manage to graduate, so yeah, and now I'm also in the middle of helping my sister plan her wedding.

Anyway, without further ado,

Enjoy the chapter!

Sam's POV

"Drive faster," Marrek growled as he checked over the gun in his hands for what must have been the tenth time.

"We're barely two minutes behind them," I replied. "I'm not speeding up, and they're not going anywhere until we get there anyway."

"At this pace, they'll be in the next state over by the time you get there."

He was trying to get a rise out of me. I chose to ignore him.

"My grandmother could drive faster than you, and she's dead."

Again I ignored him. It was difficult, considering my usual method of dealing with him usually included turning my hearing aids off so I wouldn't actually have to listen to him. However, turning them off was not an option for me anymore. So, I ignored him. I ignored the next five comments that came from his mouth and continued my focus on the road, wondering why the hell I was even here.

The best thing for everyone was if I stayed the hell away from all of them, especially Everly. Yet there I was, jumping in to help the second she called me to.

I let out a tired sigh. I didn't see a way out of this. Not for me at least. Either I gave Lydia what she wanted, and in the end, I knew she'd kill me to cover her tracks, or I didn't in which case she'd kill me and my family. I knew which option of the two I preferred. I also knew that I was only alive as long I was of use to Lydia, but I wasn't intending on being very useful for much longer.

"The fuck is wrong with you?"

I glanced at Marrek briefly out of the corner of my eye to see him watching me closely with narrowed eyes. "What?" I questioned.

"I asked what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"At the moment? I could come up with something," I said as I looked pointedly at him. "The question is why are you asking?"

"You're acting weirder than usual."

Shit. I forgot that he was actually pretty observant. I frowned. Still, I didn't think I was acting any differently to him than I had in the past. So what had he picked up on?

"I don't know what you mean," I replied as I made a turn at the end of the street.

"Normally, you'd have turned off your hearing aids before even getting in the car with me, but you haven't done that. I did notice you reach up like you fully intended to turn them off, only to stop yourself."

I shrugged, keeping my expression neutral. "I want to be able to hear my phone."

"Your phone is set to vibrate."

I rolled my eyes. "And how would you know that?"

"Because you never have the ringer on," Marrek responded. "I figured it was because you were doing shit you weren't supposed to be doing and it's pretty hard not to get caught when your phone is blaring in the middle of it all."

"You certainly have a way with words," I muttered. He was right though. Annoyingly enough. I had no intention of telling him that, however.

I could feel his gaze on the side of my head, but I ignored it. I knew there was more he wanted to say and yet for whatever reason he chose not to. That was awfully strange for him, considering he was blunt about anything and everything he wanted to say. I didn't dwell on it too much either way and instead pulled the car off the road, parking it behind Quinn's.